The present invention relates to a device for removing the skin from a poultry breast fillet which has been separated from the poultry carcass.
Various mechanisms have been developed which are capable of removing the skin from a poultry breast as well as other poultry pieces. The typical skinning device incorporates a pair of intermeshing helical-cut counter-rotating rollers. Examples of such devices may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,307 entitled "Chicken Thigh Skinner" issued on Oct. 6, 1987 to Martin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,339 entitled "Breast Skinner" issued to van de Nieuwelaar on Feb. 9, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,283 entitled "Machine for Removing Skin from Pieces of Poultry" issued to Martin on Jan. 6, 1976. These rollers act to remove the skin from a piece of poultry by engaging pieces of the skin and tearing or pulling the skin away from the poultry part. Such devices generally damage valuable meat to the extent the meat must be downgraded so as not to be sold in its intended premium market. The above described machines also allow some meat to remain attached to the removed skin, especially in the rib cage area, so as to waste valuable saleable meat.
Poultry processing areas are required to maintain a high degree of cleanliness in their operations. Devices such as the type described above tend to clog with skin, cartilage and other debris causing frequent cleaning operations. This clogging if unjammed by the machine operator potentially can cause a severe safety hazard.
A need therefore exists for a poultry processing machine which is capable of removing the skin from cut-up poultry parts, in particular poultry breast fillets, while allowing the breast meat to remain undamaged, while assuring the maximum meat yield available and allowing safer and more sanitary operations.